July 30, 2007

No Kidding

According to the latest NBER research, "fraternity membership has a large impact on drinking intensity [and] frequency." Also: Minimum legal drinking age laws may not actually deter teens from drinking. You don't say!

Update: Oops, snarked too soon. Apparently the latter finding is not entirely uncontroversial. An earlier study in New Zealand found that lowering the drinking age led to an increase in car crashes. So the new NBER paper is basically challenging that result. Meanwhile, five U.S. states are considering legislation to lower their minimum legal drinking age, so this is all quite relevant...